THE ROLE OF DESIGN PROJECTS IN ASSISTING ENGINEERING STUDENTS FROM LIMINALITY TO UNDERSTANDING

Design is a central activity in engineering, and project-based design courses are increasingly common in engineering programs. Their open-ended nature presents challenges in evaluating and assessing their effectiveness. Identifying the troublesome knowledge encountered in these courses could provide a means of understanding and improving student learning. This paper describes an exploratory study aimed at finding troublesome knowledge in project-based mechanical engineering design courses. An ethnographic approach was used to determine the troublesome knowledge encountered by students in two design courses, one with a focus on universal design and the other on medical device design. Five categories of troublesome knowledge were identified: engineering science, project management, tacit skills, domain knowledge and tools and equipment. The results will be used to redesign course elements, and to inform further investigation of threshold concepts in engineering design.